If You Could Live Anywhere

If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Please share.

Let me share my personal travel fantasy. When I retire (many years away!) I would like to spend an entire year in a number of different places. Vacations are nice but a week in one place is never enough to capture an area's true flavor complete with quirks, hidden jewels and the ebb and flow of life.

I have always dreamed of surviving a brutal but beautiful winter in a Rocky Mountains cabin. Vermont for a year is also on my must list. After seeing the many awe inspiring parks of Utah I would love to spend a year buzzing around the Beehive State. Hawaii is a place I didn't want to visit but once I got there I was convinced it was paradise. I'd love to hopscotch around for a year on those beautfiul string of islands especially Kauai.

Foreign destinations are just as enchanting. Give me a year in the Scottish Highlands and I'll bring you back two albums of new Celtic music. The French countryside also intrigues me with its idyllic villages, wonderful wines and creative cuisine. The Lord of the Ring triology has convinced me that I must spend a year in New Zealand and explore the hauntingly beautiful mountains and coastline.

North Carolina has its own trove of travel fantasies. You've heard some of my favorites: Ocracoke, Roan Mountain, Montreat, Beaufort, Edenton, Asheville and Alleghany County just to name a few.